Life after prison

Seeing as OT is considered boring at the moment, I thought we may be able to have some intelligent debate about this:

The tiny West Coast town that pressured a convicted paedophile to leave says it will fight for a law change so other communities do not have to repeat the fight.

The man, aged in his mid-60s, was driven out of Blackball by angry locals who set up camp opposite his house at the weekend.

Last night, 70 of the town’s 360 residents gathered to express their anger at the Department of Corrections’ decision to allow the man to live in Blackball without wide consultation.

He was released from prison last year and moved to the town a month ago, but continued reporting to his Christchurch probation officer.

The man, who has five convictions between the 1960s and 2003 and is considered high-risk, did not seek permission to live in Blackball and is being prosecuted by Corrections for failing to notify it of his move. But the department approved his shift after learning he had moved.

Senior Sergeant Clifford Paxton, of Greymouth, said police initially had "serious concerns" for community safety. They spoke to the local school and a warning note was sent home with pupils.

Paul Tomlinson, southern regional manager for the Community Probation Service, said last night that the decision to allow the man to stay in Blackball was based on the risk to the community and the support available to him.

Alan Gurden, who led the protest outside the house, questioned Corrections’ approach.

"You decided this little town was a safe place but you couldn’t even see fit to give us [notice]. Why is it you can put this man in our town as a social experiment?"

Mr Gurden said residents would lobby the Government to ensure there was more consultation with communities in similar situations

Exactly true.. and they should be severley monitored and more than regular checkups on their condition etc even after they are given a chance to connect with the real word.. then after several years you can say rehabiliation is complete if the change is noticed.

Well as someone who directly targets paedophiles for a living (I'm an analyst at the Sexual Crime Investigation Branch of SA Police), this is a topic of interest to me. So I'll try to give the Police perspective;

Of concern is the fact that he was put into a small town where he'd be likely to encounter children on a frequent basis. This would make it difficult for him to avoid encounters with children in more compromising circumstances, particularly with those who have no idea who he is.

Mind you, the fact he's a repeat offender is highly relevant. Although there were 5 offences in 40 years, two facts make it likely he'll re-offend given the chance; one of those offences was recent (2003) and the reporting rate of child sex offences is somewhere in the vicinity of 10-15% which means that although he was pinched for 5, he probably commited many more (the average number of victims for paeds worldwide is around 40).

Far more concerning is that he was able to move to that small town once free without telling his parole officer. The fact it was approved NZDCS approved his moving to the town independent of his parole officer which is absolutely baffling. And NOW they're charging him?? A little bit of behind-covering going on here m'thinks...........

Ultimately, the decision to let him move to Blackball just should not have happened. And if it was to be approved, maybe put such a device as a home detention bracelet to monitor his movements? Either way, just giving him carte blanche to move to a small town is a recipe for disaster in light of the above. Whether he's rehabilitated or not isn't the issue; there are many ways to monitor those offenders who need it and the fact that none of these options has been considered, especially since he's out on parole and HAS to let the relevant people know when he moves or joins any sporting club, etc., is just incredible.

This sort of thing is exactly why all states in Australia (except mine, but it's coming) have a national child-sex offender registry (ANCOR) with severe penalties if the offenders don't follow their parole conditions. It's easily searchable and addresses have to be kept up-to-dat, etc. so we can make it exceedingly difficult for the known paeds to commit crimes. A site which provides an informal function of a similar nature;

In short, we CAN stop the guys known to be repeat offenders from doing these things but when these measures are not utilised, such as in this case, well what's the point?

So NO he shouldn't have been able to move to Blackball but if the decision was made to let him, there should have been measures taken to monitor him. He's pretty likely to re-offend so do we have to wait for his next victim to come forward before actually doing something?

In Victoria, they're trying to implement laws that prevent people with criminal records (depends on the crime) get a job in the security industry, after the whole Hookes thing. Much the same thing as above example - with not allowing criminals who have served time the chance to get on with their lives, seeing here that they can get a job through a line of employment that would seem to appeal to many people of violent histories.

I'm still not sure whether its right. Once again, case by case basis, I guess.

I do think sexually-motivated crimes are a different scenario than other indiscretions. The rates of recidivism are high & the public should have a right to be protected. Of course such witch hunts are unfortunate in the extreme, but I guess almost understandable.

"The PFA does not represent players when they have broken the law and been convicted on non-football matters."- Gordon Taylor in 2009 following Marlon King's release after a prison sentence for sexual assault & ABH

In cases such as this one I have no idea why he would be released into a community. The guy has multiple convictions over a long period of time and if TC is right probably has many unconvicted offences.

I really believe that scum who commit serious crimes (murder, rape etc) multiple times have no right to live in a community. In my opinion, by willfully killing someone - understanding exactly what they are doing - the offended automatically loses their right to live in a civilised society.

I'm not advocating the death penalty, but I really think serious punishments are needed for psychopaths who commit several murders or rapes. In NZ there have been several cases where a convicted murderer has been let out on parole only to kill more innocent people. That kind of thing should never happen.

As for the whole rehab thing, I'm all for second chances too but I think you have to draw a fairly definitive line.

Personally, I think serial sex offenders/serial killers/etc etc had their second chance after they committed their first offence. At that point in time they decided to offend again, and so on and so on. I think when talking rehab, it might be effective in situations where the crime wasn't characteristic of that person's normal behaviour, but if an offence is reflective of something a little more ingrained then no.

I read a book a while back where an ex-FBI profiler said that he believed rehab for sex offenders/fetish crimes/ and so on was a complete waste of time. Firstly, because you're trying to change a person with behaviour patterns that have been a certain way for a long, long time. Secondly, because you're trying to do it in an environment that bears no relationship whatsoever to the outside world...i.e, jail.

I think in a lot of cases you're dealing with fairly manipulative individuals, so thinking you can actually change their behaviour and become some sort of good samaritan is a bit far fetched. I've even read of cases where killers etc have reported to a psychologist and got the all clear whilst having a victim's head in the boot (Ed Kemper), or being released from prison seeming rehabilitated (one even having written an award winning book) only to kill again because how they react to stressors in the outside environment cannot be accurately measured in a prison setting.